View Full Version : Contracted fleas?
We did a 10 days hike in Crete recently.
One night we setup the tent in a sheep gracing field not too far from a settlement.
While the spot was really nice and I loved the constant bell jingle of the sheep, starting from this specific night, I got itchy bites all around the body, most of it where my night clothes are tight around the ankles, wrist and waist. Some more appeared anew every morning, and it took me some time to realise that there was some issue inside my sleeping clothes.
I never really saw one, but the only bug that came to my mind was fleas. Most likely I contracted them during a nightly excursion into the bushes.
From then on, I shook my clothes out very well some distance off the tent every morning and evening and finally no new bites came up.
My mate, sleeping in the same tent and doing all the same stuff than me, never got any bites.
Back home after the hike, I put the sleeping bag and the sleeping clothes inside the freezer for a few days, in order to kill any possible brood.
Just curious if anybody ever had similar issues on the trail?
HotCrotch
11-04-2022, 10:54
I hike with full length pants tucked into socks to avoid something unseen that makes my legs itch, but never got the bites you describe. You could tuck pants into socks and shirt into pants, but still not protect wrists and neck. I might be tempted to try a very large flea collar, but they are probably not tested or approved for human use. I heard something about ancient Egyptians shaving their heads to discourage lice.
My other reason for tucking pants into socks is a tick that attached itself near my privates when I was just a boy.
No experience with fleas, but I did get my base layers that I used for sleeping treated by Insect Shield, for tick protection. No ticks, AT Thru, summer ‘21
My hiking pants are Permethrin treated, so that might be the reason why I didnt have the fleas on or inside my day clothes, but in the sleep clothes only.
Honestly, I've never thought about fleas.
Well, thinkig back, many decades ago I had been travelling a lot, riding my motorcycle through Greece and once got fleas in a place that had been inhabited by Gypsies the days before.
Crossbar
11-05-2022, 07:40
Sounds more like chiggers than fleas. I hike mainly in the south east US so not sure if Crete has them or not.
Honestly, don't know.
The itchy bumps were like mosquito stings, but a bit bigger. True, there were not the typical tiny double red dots fleas usualy cause.
LEO translates "Chigger" to "Sand Flea".
So yes, it might have been chiggers.
I tarped one time in a yard at a hostel (a Hammocker), and when I turned on the headlamp before bed, little white nat like bugs where jumping all around in the grass. The rain that night decreased the activity by morning and my gear was all treated by insects shield; so I didn’t think much of it. A couple of days later, (due to some medical experience) another Thru Hiker asked if I would take a look at his ankles and calves that were itching and irritating him. I checked his lower legs out and told him it looked like flea bites to me due to smaller bumps than chiggers but I couldn’t imagine where he got them. He then told me it started the morning after a stay in the Burkhouse of the same hostel I Tarped at. For what it’s worth, he later went to a small clinic in town, where it was confirmed and treated as flea bites.
BTW, this is the spot where it happened.
Looks nice and innocent!
BTW, this is the spot where it happened.
Looks nice and innocent!
Looks more like a chigger nest location than fleas at the base of a cedar tree. But if animals are around, fleas can occur as well.
gpburdelljr
11-18-2022, 17:14
“…..I got itchy bites all around the body, most of it where my night clothes are tight around the ankles, wrist and waist….”
That is where chiggers bite.
I would never contract with fleas OR chiggers…you can trust them and they’re hard to take to court.
Daybreak
11-19-2022, 10:42
You can trust them to bite you.
Night Train
12-10-2022, 10:59
Red bug bites in the bellybutton are no joke.
I hike with full length pants tucked into socks to avoid something unseen that makes my legs itch, but never got the bites you describe. You could tuck pants into socks and shirt into pants, but still not protect wrists and neck. I might be tempted to try a very large flea collar, but they are probably not tested or approved for human use. I heard something about ancient Egyptians shaving their heads to discourage lice.
My other reason for tucking pants into socks is a tick that attached itself near my privates when I was just a boy.
In a former life I would put flea collars around my ankles above my boots. Bugs didn't bother me but I'm not necessarily crediting the flea collars. The Army has been long against it:
PetFleaandTickCollarHazards_FS_18-009-0618.pdf (army.mil) (https://phc.amedd.army.mil/PHC%20Resource%20Library/PetFleaandTickCollarHazards_FS_18-009-0618.pdf)
Now everything that I wear and my pack is treated with Permethrin. Again, no problems.